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Thursday, March 11, 2010

ADHD Anecdote--Classic Josh (forgetting the one needed thing)

You know how I mentioned that there's this book that I have to read for an essay (which is due today at 5:45)? Well, a good friend of mine who is a fellow intern at the agency I work at was kind enough to bring it to me yesterday.

So, after a long day of therapizing, paperwork, etc. I decide to leave early and not do casenotes so I can work on the stuff due today. I hop in my car and start driving when it occurs to me that, genius that I am, I have left the text required for the essay I plan to work on at the agency. Such a familiar, familiar feeling, this careless forgetting, yet nonetheless totally frustrating.

By this point, mind you, it's 10:00pm (I work late on Wednesdays). So, I turn around, barely avoiding the attention of a passing patrol car, and wind my way back to the agency. When I get up to do the door, I am horrified a second time. I, genius that I am again, do not have the key to the front door of the agency.

So, there I stand, torn between wanting to be responsible and wanting to be home, frustrated that yet again--and after all these years--I still do stuff like this constantly constantly constantly, debating whether I should await the janitor who is making his rounds on the second floor, or just go home.

I call Lolly. She has already gone to bed. I've now woken up my sleeping wife. (She seriously is a saint for not disowning me for stuff like this.) She sweetly looks for the key I left so that I could maybe come home and then go to the agency in the morning (before it opened).

Minutes and minutes pass. She does not respond. It's cold. My breath is starting to frost in the cooling air. My hands are freezing. I start pacing back and forth, eyes glued to the second-story window looking for the janitor to finish doing his thing, switching the phone from hand to hand, warming one in a pocket while the other holds the phone to my ear.

"I couldn't find it," she says. Crap. I now must without question wait for the janitor to finish. And, added bonus: I have lost the key to the front door to the building I work in, which I need to return upon graduating. Genius!

An hour or so later, I was home, book in hand. Thankfully.

What does this story say about me? Not sure. Murphy's law says this kind of thing happens to everybody. But for me, this is so commonplace it's almost laughable. All I know is that there was one thing I needed to leave the agency with yesterday in order to function today. And somehow, somehow, I managed to walk out the door without that one thing.

Kind of obnoxious.

But, today is going much better. Got out the door on time, and am now on campus, ready to essay my way to a graduate degree. Go Josh!

(And yes, ps, I started to walk out the door this morning without having put the stupid book in my bag.)

4 comments:

so well written, Josh...I actually am feeling the stress of it all in my own stomach...so glad you got to school with essay AND BOOK in hand...thanks so much for sharing here, it's really a great reminder of how we all carry these piece of our personalities that give us challenge and I love how your wife is there for you regardless, and I bet you're there for her when her "dysfunctions" come into play!

I think I have always been pretty patient with my ADHD husband, but I have to say that it's been much EASIER to be patient since he got his diagnosis and I understand that it's not a matter of him not caring, it's a matter of how his brain is wired and I do believe he is doing the best he can and he is probably 100 times more frustrated with himself than I ever am. I'm glad Lolly is patient with you, because you have a lot to offer the world and as a team, you can do so much more. The main point of this ramble is to say thanks for the insights into ADHD.

Are you new here?

Oh hi.

I am Josh Weed.

I am a gay, Mormon man who is married to a woman. I have four daughters, one of whom is not featured in the photo on the header of this blog because she wasn't born yet. When she's old enough to realize this she's gonna be pissed, but as of now she can't talk yet, so I'm rolling with it.

I am a Marriage and Family Therapist who is licensed through AAMFT (the American Association of Marriage and Family Therapists), a Certified Sex Addiction Therapist trained through IITAP (the International Institute of Trauma and Addiction Professionals), and was named the Best Father Ever from TAOITMKTSTOITATST (The Association of I Told My Kids To Say That Or I'd Take Away Their Screen Time).

This website is my personal blog. I write serious posts and humorous/satirical posts. You'll probably very easily tell the difference, but if you're ever wondering, just ask. Sometimes as I write this blog, I might talk about therapy concepts. I might mention things that I've learned in my grad studies. I might share thoughts I'm having around things I'm reading, or ideas I hope will be helpful. When that happens, please know that I am offering my thoughts as a fellow human writing on his personal blog, and not as your personal therapist, or even as a professional giving professional advice. Grain of salt, is what I'm saying. Always consult (and pay for!) a professional's opinion when making therapeutic changes in your own life.

So yeah. That's how things go around here. Some days you'll get a post on a serious topic I happen to be thinking about. Other days you'll get a post about me crapping my pants on a morning run.

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...The weed stood in the severed heart."What are you doing there?" I asked.It lifted its head all dripping wet(with my own thoughts?)and answered then: "I grow," it said,"but to divide your heart again."